S4C to show all of Wales’ autumn rugby games live after Amazon take English coverage behind paywall

All of Wales’ matches in the Autumn Nations Cup are to be broadcast live on S4C, the Welsh Rugby Union has announced.

Viewers will be able to watch Wales’s three pool matches, against Ireland, Georgia and England, and their fourth game on the Finals weekend, live on the Welsh language free-to-air channel, after the broadcaster reached an agreement with Six Nations Rugby Ltd.

It comes after Amazon Prime Video were confirmed by the Six Nations, who are organising the tournament, as the main English language broadcasters.

The only games that Prime Video won’t be showing live in English behind their paywall will be Ireland’s fixtures against Wales and Georgia in Dublin. The game between Ireland and Wales will be live on Channel 4.

The competition gets underway on Friday 13 November, when Ireland host Wales at the Aviva Stadium, in Dublin.

S4C will also have live coverage of the friendly match between France and Wales on Saturday 24 October, and Wales’s 2020 Guinness Six Nations finale against Scotland, on Saturday 31 October.

‘Support’

“We are delighted that viewers can follow Wales in this exciting new competition live on S4C,” Sue Butler, S4C Sports Commissioner, said.

“As a longstanding broadcast partner of the WRU, this agreement reaffirms S4C’s commitment to providing high-quality rugby coverage in the Welsh language for all Welsh rugby fans.”

Craig Maxwell, WRU Commerical Director, said that S4C continue to be a “great supporter” of Welsh rugby.

“This deal is great for fans as it means they can watch our exciting Autumn Nations cup fixtures in the Welsh language,” he said.

The Autumn Nations Cup has replaced the originally planned autumn rugby schedule of internationals which had to be called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well as featuring the traditional Six Nations’ sides, Fiji and Georgia have also been included. Wales are in a pool with England, Ireland and Georgia.

They will play all three teams before facing a final play-off match against either France, Scotland, Italy or Fiji, who are in the other pool.